----- Forwarded message from "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu> -----
Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 16:12:23 -0500
From: "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu>
To: wine(a)thebarn.com
We're going to Sapor at 6:30 on Thursday.
Style du jour is Rhone Varietals. $5 per person in leu of corkage.
Part of their wine list is on their web site.
If you happen to bring something that's on the list or the shelf
(easier than you might think. Ask Russ about a split of
something obscure he'd bought at a winery that was on
their shelf as well.... ) we'll just save it for
another week. We're never short of wine.
http://www.saporcafe.com/
428 N. Washington, Mpls
612 375 1971
Yes/Guess:
Ruth
Betsy
Bob
Karin/Nicolai
Jim
More guesses....
Lori
Roger LeClair
Annette S
Dave
Sapor is very close to Sam's Wine Shop (closes at 8:00 M-Th).
They are doing some sort of Bastile Day tasting and special
Thursday through Saturday.
Flowering of cool new gins
By Charles Perry
Times Staff Writer
July 12, 2006
I blame James Bond. Everything started going downhill, cocktail-wise, when he insisted on vodka martinis, shaken, not stirred.
That sounded ultra-suave in the '60s, but the vodka martini has a fatal flaw . it lacks the heady aromatics and complex palate of gin (which must be why Ian Fleming actually specified a mixture of vodka and gin in "Casino Royale"). A straight vodka martini is a cocktail with a hole in the middle.
People were bound to fill that hole with something, and just look at what they're doing. The sugary, imitation fruit-flavored vodka cocktails being poured these days make me feel I'm at some kind of naughty children's Kool-Aid party.
I say a lot of these cocktails are suffering from gin deprivation, and apparently I'm not the only one who feels gin has been unjustly neglected of late. There's more interest in gin these days than there has been in many years. "It's something I notice around town," says dining room manager Jeremy Allen of Norman's in West Hollywood. "I think people are exploring."
Here's the best sign of a gin revival: In recent years, a whole category of boutique gins has arisen alongside the long-established brands.
The bartenders' favorite seems to be Hendrick's, a Scottish gin, which is so distinctive and yet refined that it creates remarkable cocktails. But keep your eyes open at leading bars around town and you're likely to notice other unfamiliar names, such as Junipero, from the Bay Area; France's Citadelle; a gin made by a Sonoma winemaker, No. 209; and Old Raj, another Scottish entry.
Anchor Brewing had just started making a rye whiskey in 1996 when owner Fritz Maytag decided to make a gin as well . and discovered how much there was to learn. "I made a list of all the ingredients anybody ever mentioned in gin," he says, "First we made a minimalist gin with the three basic ingredients everybody uses, then we added one botanical at a time to see what they do.
"We experimented and wandered in a wilderness for a long time. Then one day I just said, 'Stop, this is great.' " Maytag's Junipero is powerful and sculptured, loaded with gin's distinctive juniper flavor.
Leslie Rudd fell into gin, as it were, when he bought the Edge Hill Winery in St. Helena, Calif., and discovered that in 1882 it had become U.S. registered distillery No. 209, producing gin and other spirits. Napa County does not permit distilling anything but grape-based spirits such as brandy and grappa, so Rudd set up his No. 209 operation . which uses a still custom-made for him in Scotland . in San Francisco. It's a subtle, well-considered gin that makes a sophisticated cocktail.
Juniper's the key
GIN was invented for medicinal purposes by a 17th century Dutch physician named Franciscus Sylvius, who added juniper berries, spices and other botanicals to distilled spirits. During the 18th century, the English took to drinking gin for its alcohol content, but in the 19th century, despite gin's bad rep . it had become a byword for alcohol abuse . bartenders noticed that its crisp, piney flavor performed excellently in mixed drinks. In particular, it wedded beautifully with the body and winy aromas of vermouth. The all-time classic gin cocktail is the dry martini, created almost exactly 100 years ago, a cocktail so sleek and powerful it has been nicknamed the Silver Bullet.
As a result of this discovery, gin moved out of the categories of dubious medicine and cheap hooch to became one of the classic cocktail bases, along with whiskey, brandy, champagne and rum. Gin is the only one of that group that is never aged (or hardly ever . Kensington, one of the boutique gins most appreciated by The Times tasting panel, is aged in oak) and gets its aroma entirely from added ingredients.
It starts as grain spirit (vodka, in effect; many gin distillers are also vodka-makers these days). The botanicals are steeped in it, it's distilled one more time, and voil�: gin.
To be called gin, it has to include juniper berries . its very name comes from the French or Dutch word for juniper. This provides gin's unique, refreshing outdoorsy scent. It always contains some citrus peel, either lemon or bitter orange or both. After that, the distiller has a huge range of choices. Coriander and anise are very common, but some gins use 20 or more botanicals such as cucumber, licorice, rose petals or almonds.
One of the most important is angelica, a cold-climate member of the carrot family that flourishes in Northern Europe. Angelica is astringent; it's the reason gin doesn't have a cloying aftertaste. Another traditional ingredient is orris root, which has a mild, funky herbal smell somewhat resembling violets. More important, orris root binds volatile aromas, which would otherwise evaporate more rapidly than they do.
For a long time . call it the Seagram's age . many people seemed to think of gin as an industrial product without significant differences among brands. But recently, more than a dozen specialty gins have appeared on the market, showing an extravagant variety of styles: powerful gins for memorable cocktails, delicate or exotic ones for sipping, new takes on classical gins with a twist of their own.
About half of the companies marketing these new-wave gins have long experience in spirits, such as mainline gin distiller Tanqueray and the French firm Cognac Ferrand. There's a surprisingly strong Scottish presence. Hendrick's comes from the Girvan Distillery, which supplies grain whisky for the Grant & Sons brand of blended scotches. Old Raj is distilled for Wm. Cadenhead, a specialist in bottling high-end single malts. Ian Macleod Distillers, producers of Scotch and many other spirits, makes the remarkable Kensington, which tastes like a cross between gin and aged whisky.
Among the West Coast gins, the best are the two made by companies moving up from less alcoholic beverages, Junipero No. 209. Other brands are mostly the work of newcomers to the business, based in places as various as Chicago, Santa Cruz, Princeton, Minn., and Bend, Ore. Martin Miller's sends its freshly distilled gin from London to Iceland to be brought down to 80 proof with the local water.
Most of the new gins show the ongoing effects of Sapphire's explosive effect on the design of gin bottles. Instead of being packaged in old-fashioned squared-off bottles, most of them arrive in fanciful containers that look like giant perfume jars.
Pot-distilled products
BUT the real differences are inside the bottle. The well-known gin brands, like most spirits in the modern world, are distilled in high-volume column stills. In contrast, eight of the newcomers boast that they use the old-fashioned pot still, the kind associated with Cognac and Scotch malt whisky.
Pot stills are slower and less efficient than column stills but can make a more distinctive product, and most of the pot-distilled gins we tasted were particularly good.
There's no single style to these new gins. Several of the newcomers have a somewhat unfocused flavor, but the Bay Area brewery and winery distill splendid, rather classical gins. Scotland produced three of our favorites, all quite distinctive, and they could scarcely be more different: Hendrick's poetic and delicate, Old Raj rich and robust, Kensington startlingly original.
These new gins are so good they can be sipped straight, but they also make spectacular cocktails. Chiseled, aggressively juniper-flavored Junipero makes a bold, broad-shouldered dry martini, while Hendrick's produces virtually the opposite: elegant, layered, almost floral.
With its whisky-like notes, a Kensington Martini is halfway to a Rob Roy, and Old Raj is such a flavorful gin that you need to add more vermouth than you otherwise would (yes, ultra-dry martini fans, this is one case when gin can overpower vermouth).
In the gin market, these brands are just the proverbial drop in the bucket. But they reveal new possibilities.
Maybe, one day, some movie character will start a trend by demanding a Harvey Ginbanger, or a Hendrick's Fuzzy Navel . easy on the peach schnapps, shaken and stirred.
*
Aromatherapy cocktail
Total time: 2 minutes
Servings: 1
Note: From bartender Jeremiah Doherty at Grace in West Hollywood, this cocktail complements the botanicals in the gin. Find elderflower syrup at Silverlake Wine, L.A.; Larchmont Wine & Cheese, L.A.; La Petite Vendome, Pasadena; Manhattan Fine Wines, Manhattan Beach; Vendome, Beverly Hills; the Wine House, West L.A.; Blue Table, Calabasas.
2 1/2 ounces Hendrick's gin
1/2 ounce elderflower syrup
1 ounce tonic water
1 ounce soda water
Edible flower such as nasturtium (optional)
Pour the gin and elderflower syrup into a tall 12-ounce glass filled with ice. Add the tonic water and soda water, stir and garnish with the flower.
Each serving: 180 calories; 0 protein; 5 grams carbohydrates; 0 fiber; 0 fat; 0 saturated fat; 0 cholesterol; 8 mg. sodium.
What I know of who's coming and an article on Rieslings from
the SFGChronicle.
I'm a maybe at this point.
Many of the app's we sampled with 3M group were boring.
Entrees were good.
Bob,
Betsy
Annette
Warren/Ruth
Jim
----- Forwarded message from Betsy Kremser <Betsy.Kremser(a)co.anoka.mn.us> -----
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 15:46:14 -0500
From: "Betsy Kremser" <Betsy.Kremser(a)co.anoka.mn.us>
To: <wine(a)thebarn.com>
Subject: [wine] Sparkling Wines & Rieslings at Krua Thailand
Bob made reservations for 10 at Krua Thailand on Thursday, June 6.
Sparkling wines and Rieslings are the styles of choice.
Krua Thailand
432 University Ave W
Saint Paul, MN 55103
651-224-4053
It's on the south side of University between Arundel and Western.
Bring glasses. Bob says they don't have much in terms of glassware to
offer.
----- End forwarded message -----
Refreshing German Rieslings are sweet, but not to a fault
- W. Blake Gray, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, July 6, 2006
Click to View
The worst thing about the World Cup is that it ends too soon.
The world's greatest, most popular sporting event takes a whole month, but just when the biological clock gets accustomed to 7 a.m. games, and the neighbors are used to screams of "Goooooaaal!" at 7:15, the whole shebang's over.
If the finale on Sunday leaves you thirsting for more, extend the Cup feeling with the greatest wine of host country Germany -- Riesling.
German Rieslings are consistently among the most excellent wine bargains. The best ones are complex, delicious and refreshing. Plus, they're generally low in alcohol, allowing you to have one more glass than usual.
But there's a catch: A word that rhymes with "neat" and "petite" and has come to be an expletive for many wine lovers. Instead of speaking this verboten word aloud, we use polite euphemisms like "off-dry."
So I'll say it out loud: Yes, most German Rieslings are sweet.
But the good ones balance that out-of-favor characteristic with high acidity, making them food-friendly and thirst-quenching without being cloying.
Sweetness isn't such a bad thing for food pairing. Because of it, German Rieslings go nicely with spicy dishes that make other wines taste unpleasantly "hot" (high in alcohol). German Rieslings are among the few wines that go well with Thai food, with its complex combinations of spicy and sour elements. They're good with Mexican food as well.
Bad nun flashbacks
Unfortunately, German wines' reputation is stained for many Americans by the lingering stigma of Blue Nun -- as iconic for the bad-taste 1970s as bell-bottoms or wild-colored polyester shirts.
Beyond the specter of the Nun, the complicated labels on German bottles have also hampered their acceptance in the U.S. market. While language is a barrier, it's not the only one.
Many Americans have a passing understanding of French wine lingo, as much of it has been accepted into English. Spanish and Italian wines more or less follow the French model; if you understand appellation controlee ("name controlled," it signifies the region where the grapes were grown), then you can figure out its equivalent in Spanish and Italian.
German wines require learning not just new words, but new concepts. The most important is ripeness level -- grapes for Auslese wines are riper than those for Spatlese, so the wines are sweeter. Kabinett grapes are less ripe than Spatlese.
In the bargain price range, though, you don't usually have to worry about these classifications, as most cheap German Rieslings are QbA -- a more general classification with less ripe grapes. It's an indication of how confusing German wine labels are that few of these wines actually say "QbA" anywhere on the bottle. You just have to surmise it from the absence of the other terms.
Ironically, because the grapes are less ripe for less-expensive wines, the resultant wines are usually less sweet, making them ideal for people who believe that adjective is derogatory.
My favorite wine this week is from a producer that understands the marketing value of modern labels. The 2005 Schmitt Sohne Relax Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Riesling ($10) has a strikingly cool blue bottle that gives orders in huge white letters to people with a Blue Nun fixation: "Relax." And enjoy it -- the delicious flavors of peach, pear and apricot have a slight, fruity sweetness. The 9.5 percent alcohol level means that if you can normally drink two glasses of 14 percent alcohol wine, you can have three glasses of this.
I had the 2005 Rudi Wiest Rhein River Rheinhessen Riesling ($10) with takeout rotisserie chicken and it was a wonderful match. The wine's apple and quince flavors tasted vibrant throughout its long finish. The 2003 Rudi Wiest Selections Mosel River Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Riesling ($10) is also pretty good, if simpler, tasting mostly of apple. It's sweeter than the Rhein River version.
German from California
The 2005 Ironstone Vineyards Pfalz Riesling ($10) is a multicultural oddity; a German Riesling from a California winery.
Ironstone Vineyards was founded in 1990 in Murphys, in Calaveras County, by the Kautz family, whose ancestors were winemakers in the Pfalz region of Germany. Ironstone specializes in red wines but wanted to add a white wine; however, the family wasn't growing white grapes, so they looked overseas to Zimmerman-Graeff & Mueller, a German producer that makes wine for several other companies as well. ZG&M made Ironstone a proprietary blend for this delicious wine, which smells and tastes of lychee and fresh-cut flowers. Crisp and slightly sweet, the wine has vibrant acidity that makes it refreshing and food-friendly.
Three well-respected German producers make similarly fine Rieslings in the bargain price range. The 2003 Loosen Dr. L Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Riesling ($10), 2004 Two Princes Nahe Riesling ($11) and 2003 S.A. Prum Essence Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Riesling ($11) all have an apple and brown sugar character. The Essence, another wine with a modern nickname, also offers hints of apricot and toast, and is a bit less sweet than the other two. None has an alcohol level higher than 10 percent.
The 2005 St. Urbans-Hof Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Riesling ($10) looks more traditional, with a religious icon and plenty of German terms on the front label. It's the most unusual of the wines recommended here, with strongly green, herbal aromas and flavors of green apple, apricot and green-leaf lettuce that linger on a medium-long finish.
With the exception of the Ironstone wine, of which 10,000 cases were imported, the problem with recommending German Rieslings is that most are low-production wines that may not be easy to find.
Riesling Down Under
Enter the world's mass producers: the Aussies. The 2005 Banrock Station South Eastern Australia Riesling ($5) is an excellent deal for the price. Many Australian Rieslings are bone-dry, but this is in the German style, slightly sweet but not cloying, with flavors of lemon-lime and mango.
Finally, for people who think sweetness is a plus, not a curse, the 2005 Hardys South Eastern Australia Riesling ($19 for 3-liter box) is unabashedly for you; it's like a liquid candied apple. And the bag-in-box style will preserve the wine in your refrigerator for as long as four weeks after opening, perhaps long enough for the pain of Australia's exit from the World Cup on a bizarrely awarded penalty kick to fade.
No matter who wins the Cup on Sunday, a toast with the greatest varietal from the host country is appropriate. And since it's low in alcohol, you can also drink a cup to a better performance by the U.S. team (sigh) in South Africa in 2010.
Shopping list
These are the best deals The Chronicle found this week.
Rieslings
2005 Banrock Station South Eastern Australia Riesling ($5)
2005 Hardys South Eastern Australia Riesling ($19 for 3-liter box)
2005 Ironstone Vineyards Pfalz Riesling ($10)
2003 Loosen Dr. L Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Riesling ($10)
2005 Rudi Wiest Rhein River Rheinhessen Riesling ($10)
2003 Rudi Wiest Selections Mosel River Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Riesling ($10)
2003 S.A. Prum Essence Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Riesling ($11)
2005 Schmitt Sohne Relax Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Riesling ($10)
2005 St. Urbans-Hof Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Riesling ($10)
2004 Two Princes Nahe Riesling ($11)
E-mail W. Blake Gray at wbgray(a)sfchronicle.com.
Page F - 3
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/06/WIG65JOL5F1.DTL
--
------------------------------ *
* Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
Our friend Mary at Chocolat Celeste has some wines she would like to sell.
These are half cases of wines she used in her tasting classes.
I "Googled" them to get the background info. Wine-searcher shows them
to be v. good values.
The Muscat is fortified.
----- Forwarded message from "Mary Leonard, Chocolat Celeste" <mary(a)chocolatceleste.com> -----
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2006 10:32:55 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Mary Leonard, Chocolat Celeste" <mary(a)chocolatceleste.com>
Reply-To: mary(a)chocolatceleste.com
Subject: Hi-Wine
To: louise Stich <louise.stich(a)mci.com>, Jim Ellingson <jellings(a)me.umn.edu>
Hi,
It has been so long since I've seen you both, I get so preoccupied with the business.
I was wondering if you would know anyone that might be willing to buy some wines I bought for an event about a month ago. I can not return them to Sharrett's. The price was discounted to me.
I am trying to turn them into cash since the summer is so slow.
Here they are:
6 bottles of Domaine de Beaumalric 2000 - Muscat de Beaumes de Venise - $14.99 each $16.40 w/ tax
6 bottles of Santa Duc - Les Blovac Rasteau - Cote du Rhone 2002 - $19.99 each $21.90 w/ tax
1 bottle of Les Hauts de Montmirail 2003 Gigondas Domaine Brusset - $28.99 each $31.75 w/ tax
Let me know. I also paid tax of 9.5% on them.
----- End forwarded message -----
Beaumes de Venise is a medieval village with grottos in the sandstone cliffs. The beauty of this magical name and the sweetness of the golden liquid with its magnificent Muscat aroma is the stuff dreams are made of. The vineyard extends to the foot of the � Dentelles de Montmirail � - and produces this shimmering nectar exploding with white fruits and the sweet aroma of Muscat. The impressive freshness of Beaumes de Venise with its lemony and flowery flavour makes it an ideal companion for sweet entr�es, foie gras or special shellfish dishes.
Grape variety: Muscat
RASTEAU A.C .LES BLOVAC. Vieilles Vignes - Roughly three kilometres to the west of Gigondas, Rasteau lies to the north adjoining Cairanne to the south. The vineyards lie on the edge of what is known as the Plan de Dieu (the Plain of God), which was formed by old riverbed deposits. The exposure here is south/south east. All of the fruit is harvested at vineyards owned by Yves Gras. cousin, and the yields are well below the 52 hecto/hectare allowed for the appellation of C�tes du Rh�ne Villages. The blend is 70% Grenache, 20% Syrah and 10% Mourvedre, with vines ranging between 30 and 60 years of age. The wine is big and rustic. A blend of 70% Grenache, 15% Mourvedre, and 15% Syrah grown on Rasteau's steep hillsides, it reveals exuberant black cherry and blackberry fruit with a hint of espresso and chocolate.
2001 Domaine Santa Duc Rasteau Les Blovac, $24.99: Deep, dark garnet in color, with a very expressive, deep, dark black currant, blackberry and iodine nose, and a little menthol lurking in the background. Big flavors echo, with a streak of leather throughout and tannins that don't intrude on tonight's drinking pleasure, but it will certainly improve with 3-5 years in the cellar. It turns a bit earthy on the finish, where the tannins show the most. I really like this, and so does Kim; it turns more and more leathery with air, and that's fine with us!
Imported by Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, D.C.
Les Hauts de Montmirail 2003 Gigondas Domaine Brusset
Daniel BRUSSET *****
Gigondas "Les Hauts de Montmirail"
"A long time marginalized in Gigondas because of his insistence to use small new barrels at the property, Daniel Brusset is now well accepted by the local vine growers. His father starts "Les Hauts de Montmirail" in 1986 making vinification at the "chaix" located in Cairanne, and it was there another point of discord with the inhabitants of the village, for which Brusset were foreigners (Cairanne is located at a few kilometers only of Gigondas). The family quickly increases the property which passes thus from 7 ha to approximately 83 ha and now has the most spectacular vineyards in terrace of Gigondas: nested behind the extraordinary point of view of the "Dentelles de Montmirail", these high stone phalanges which point towards the sky, they give wines very marked by some touch of new and roasted oak and by rich flavours of red fruits which incontestably have much character - through restricted outputs, a very meticulous vinification and maturing, as well as bottling the less interventionist as possible. The potential ageing is 15 years approximately."
Robert PARKER
--
------------------------------ *
* Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
